2012 Books I Am Ridiculously Excited For

Queen of the Night by Leanne Hall

This is out in March, from Text Publishing. It's the sequel to This Is Shyness, which was unique and dark and fantastic, and the cover is gorgeous. Plus! Sinister blurb:
The dark is dangerous. So is the past. So are your dreams.

For six months Nia—Wildgirl—has tried to forget Wolfboy, the mysterious boy she spent one night with in Shyness—the boy who said he’d call but didn’t.

Then Wolfboy calls. The things he tells her pull her back to the suburb of Shyness, where the sun doesn’t rise and dreams and reality are difficult to separate. There, Doctor Gregory has seemingly disappeared, the Darkness is changing and Wolfboy’s friend is in trouble. And Nia decides to become Wildgirl once more.


Preloved by Shirley Marr
There's an official-like blurb for this book (check out Goodreads), but I prefer Shirley's description: 'It's a ghost story. It involves past lives. It's about a modern teen girl and a dead teen boy from the 80s. It's more a bad romance, less of a love story. And it's more abnormal than paranormal! Since it references the 80s, it might also have stonewash denim and a Choose Life t shirt in there somewhere too. I hope it's funny and dark and sweet in its own indie way.'

That cover! The eighties! Past lives and dead folks! I am very much looking forward to reading this. I loved Marr's last book, Fury (review here - and author interview!), and I dare say this looks even more awesome. (Shirley has a very cool book review blog called Books on Marrs, too. She rates in Mars Bars!) It's out April 1st, from Walker Books.


The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams

"But there I go, getting ahead of myself. Skipping straight to the part where I was front-page news and they were calling me Dorothy, instead of starting at the beginning . . ."

When Dodie's parents go missing just as final year exams are about to start, she convinces herself they're fine. But when the least likely boy in class holds the key -- quite literally -- to the huge secret her parents have been hiding all these years, it's up to Dodie, her sister, the guy from school, and two guys she's never met before, to take on the challenge of a lifetime. So now Dodie's driving -- unlicensed -- to Sydney, and being chased by bad guys, the police, and one very handsome good guy.

1. Brilliant cover. 2. How weird and delightful does it sound? The Penguin Between the Lines blog promises: 'A wacky Weekend at Bernie's style roadtrip. A secret body in the basement. Parents missing. Final days of high school. Only Gab Williams could come up with such an imaginative plot like this, that sounds crazy but when you're reading feels normal and natural.' It's coming out February 22.


Blood Storm by Rhiannon Hart
The sequel to Blood Song (which was all kinds of brilliant - Zeraphina is a very cool protagonist), coming in August 2012 from Random House. No cover yet, but here's the blurb:
"The rain wanted to be ocean; the ice in the mountain caps wanted freedom. I never knew that water held such longing. The clouds above my head rumbled like a growling wolf, impatient to release their burden. I held the rain there a moment longer. I turned to Renata, heard her gasp and knew my eyes glowed blue. I spoke a single word. ‘Rain.’

In the Second Book of Lharmell, Zeraphina and Rodden must travel across the sea to find the elusive ingredients that will help them to win the coming battle against the Lharmellin – but shadows from Rodden’s dark past may come back to haunt him. And while she learns to harness her new abilities, Zeraphina still fights the hunger that makes her crave the north – not to mention avoiding her mother, who wants to see her wayward daughter married to a prince at all costs.
I am not usually this inclined to read fantasy novels, but I'm a Rhiannon Hart fan.


Kiss Chasey by Fiona Wood
There isn't a cover or blurb yet for this, and I think this is a working title, too. But I loved Six Impossible Things. I don't know when this is coming out! Lack of information makes me all the more curious. Also I like the title. I like it a lot. Pulchritude is another title I've seen for it. Not as much of a fan of that title.


The Howling Boy by Cath Crowley
'A mystery and a love story, with dual narrators.' Cath Crowley does dual narrators brilliantly (see Graffiti Moon and A Little Wanting Song). No cover yet. I'm waiting, Pan Macmillan.

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This is a very condensed list. I have a lot more where these came from. What books are you ridiculously excited for this year? Look, I used big font. Do tell.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”

I haven't yet read any of Anne Lamott's novels, but I loved Bird by Bird. It promises, on the cover, 'some instructions on writing and life'; it's part-writing advice part-memoir, the two very much interrelated. Her primary advice in this book is to write 'shitty first drafts' - writing a minimum amount every day, always moving forward. It reveals that the struggle of being a writer doesn't ease with publication or success, and focuses on the writing process above the goal of publication. There's a lot more to it than just these pieces of advice; it is also a lovely book to read, a celebration of writing and reading.

You can find this book on Amazon and read more of the many, many reviews on Goodreads. Almost all of them are positive - a lot of them glowing - apart from those negative one that take the this writer is obviously a crazy person tact. I think if you are the kind of writer who doesn't suffer from self-doubt or immense frustration, or who likes to plot their novels before they begin writing, the advice in this book will perhaps not suit you. (Lamott is very self-deprecating and jealous of other writers, though humorously. I think a lot of people, writer or non, are like this, and the vulnerability and rawness she has when writing about her own life make her seem very genuine and endearing.)

She uses a quote from Cool Runnings that I am very much a fan of (I've used it myself in the past, but she used it in relation to writing a long time before I did - this came out the year after my birth): A gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you’re not enough without one, you’ll never be enough with one. She focuses very much on the writing part over the publishing part. Even though it's seventeen years old (hey! just like me!), it remains relevant - publishing is only mentioned in passing, and the idea of mailing a manuscript out seems somewhat quaint, but this is not at all the focus of the book. The widespread use of the internet is the only other major difference to the experience of writing Lamott expresses in the book - now, the process of researching a novel is much faster, and perhaps dehumanised. Lamott writes about calling a nursery up to ask what flowers would bloom in a particular place at a particular time of year, whereas a simple Google could solve all plot problems today.

I found it very reassuring and the 'shitty first drafts' tip awfully helpful. It's beautifully written, if at times excessively wordy (and obviously a bit self-indulgent, but I think that occurs in all memoirs), so even if blindly stumbling forward isn't your writing style (or even if you are just a passionate reader), it's still an enjoyable read. Here are some lovely quotes from the book, if you aren't yet convinced to pick it up:

“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”

“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. So part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won't really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. Another part of us thinks we'll figure out a way to divert the ocean. This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.”

“E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.”

“I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her. (Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said that you can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)”

“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”

How To Get A Book Deal When You're Fifteen

There is this overwhelming focus amongst a lot of writers of children's and young adult fiction (and definitely writers across other genres, too, but this is what I'm familiar with) on publication, and on producing large volumes of work quickly. I don't know whether this phenomenon can be blamed upon NaNoWriMo, or the demands of young readers (a book a year, a massive series), or the nature of society today.

There is a sort of rabid desperation that some unpublished writers have to become an author, to 'make it', to get a book deal. And when I say 'some', I mean the vast majority of unpublished writers I've known. The elaborate fantasy of 'when I am published'. The resentment of already successful writers, and the idolisation of agents and editors.

I remember being like this myself. I remember the unfailing belief that something would shift within me upon receiving external validation. I remember the belief that publication would be this all powerful thing, that published writers were somehow different from unpublished writers.

And this is what drove me to devour every single little detail about the publishing world I could get my hands on. This is what drove me to write like a crazy person. I'm not sure I would've worked has hard as I did, would've blogged on a daily basis, would've read and read and read about the publishing industry if I knew how it would feel to be an author.

This is what publication day feels like: not much, really.

There are plenty of wonderful experiences someone with a newly released book can have: speaking at festivals, speaking at schools, signing books, going into a shop and seeing their book on the shelf, hearing that a reader loves your book.

There are also a lot of less-than-wonderful experiences you make yourself vulnerable to: bad reviews and criticism, a great deal of stress over the first book not doing well enough or the second book not finding a publisher or not measuring up to others expectations, a possibly painful editorial process.

And this is the part where unpublished writers desperate to publication want to hear: but it's all worth it! Writing is painful but publication is brilliant!

The truth is, the real joy of being a writer is in the writing. Maybe for some people it is in promoting the book but I think those people are just in the wrong industry. The idea that traditional publication should be the goal of all writers is an incorrect one. Writing has value (to both the writer and their readers) irrespective of whether it is traditionally published.

Here's how I think it works:

If your only goal is publication, you may very well become published, but you probably won't be a particularly good writer. You will perhaps just be a commercially viable writer. And maybe that's what you want, and that's an okay thing to want. The odds of you making decent money out of this writing business are not great, but go for it.

If your goal, instead, is based around the actual writing - trying to create a story other people will enjoy, or you will enjoy, or just writing for self-expression or because you were inspired or because, pretty much, you live to write - then you may or may not get published. Maybe there is enough value in writing because it helps you to deal with the world without having to share it with other people commercially. Maybe you will write a lot of novels before you create something that deserves to be shared with others. Maybe through writing a story that is real and true and genuine for yourself, you'll create something other people will love.

Yes, publication has its upsides: finding out an agent or publisher loves your book enough to publish it is a wonderful feeling; hearing someone loved your book is brilliant; someone being inspired by you is great. Money is also nice. But these pleasures are very fleeting compared to the joy and growth and knowledge you will find in actually writing a novel. Publication will complicate your relationship with your writing a lot. You don't have to rush into it. It's not the best field if you need money immediately, either.

I don't understand why some people continue to look down upon those who self-publish, because really, everyone has different ambitions with their writing. For some people, having control over their work and sharing it online is a viable option, and one that can bring them joy and financial gain.

There is no magical key to becoming traditionally published, and even if there was, you wouldn't want it. This is not to stop you from pursuing publication. This is to remind you not to put the cart before the horse. This is to remind you to enjoy every stage of the writing process if your goal is publication, and that writing is wonderful irrespective of whether you get published.

My goal as a writer is to become the best writer I can and make sense of my world. And I hope that as long as I am writing, I'll have the opportunity to share that with other people, and entertain them. Publication and money are wonderful, but I don't mind getting a day job. If I only get one life, I don't want to spend the entire time writing in my room, after all.

I think publishers choosing books that are 'commercially viable' is a load of rubbish, since those books often tend to be generic and lame Twilight-derivatives, but that's another thing altogether. I suppose people need to make money. I'd rather try and write amazing stories. I certainly prefer to read them.

Give up on the 'when I am published' fantasy, if you have one (It's really quite a lot like the 'when I am thin' fantasy - you will not transform into someone else). Probably focusing on publication at the expense of writing is a bad idea. Reading every piece of advice everyone has ever doled out about anything related to the publishing industry is really not the key (beyond the basics of what to put in a query and how to be respectful to agents and publishers, of course).

Even once you are published, you will still be a work-in-progress as a writer. You always will be. And that is a wonderful thing. Getting published when you are still a kid doesn't really count for a lot (people will just be ferociously resentful or vaguely impressed), but it's a perfectly fine thing to aspire to. Being a great writer does not have to be your central goal at the expense of all others, but I think it's a good one. I want to write books people will love and cry and laugh over. Publication and cash money will always be secondary to that.

Feel free to burn me alive if I sell out and start writing misogynistic vampire romances.

And if you remain curious, here are the things that I think are vital if you really, really want to be a traditionally published writer:

• A bit of inspiration
• A lot of motivation and hard work
• The encouragement and feedback of other writers
• Knowledge of your genre and the industry
• Enough bravery to send your work out and risk rejection, as well as patience and a thick skin
• A very significant portion of right-person, right-place, right-time luck.
• The slightest bit of insanity

I think that's about it.

Thoughts on writing for publication, what motivates you as a writer, and commercial viability are very much appreciated.

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley & The Lucky Ones by Tohby Riddle

I am not doing well at this blogging-twice-a-week goal. This is mainly because I start writing something and then I get distracted thinking about how absurd human existence is and vow to become a terrific anarchist and philosopher and change the world, and then I realise that I am actually seventeen and none of my thoughts are particularly revolutionary and that I love law and order, and also Law and Order: SVU. I have, however, been managing to fit in some reading. These are their stories.

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley

Charlie Duskin is running. Fleeing from failures and memories of friends who have given up on her. And she’s not only running, she’s chasing things – like a father who will talk to her, friends who don’t think she’s invisible.

But Charlie Duskin is about to have the best summer of her life. She’s about to meet a friend who’ll change her forever. She’s about to fall in love. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Since reading Graffiti Moon (which is glorious and my review is here), Cath Crowley has basically been my personal hero. While I didn't quite adore A Little Wanting Song as much as Graffiti Moon, it was still beautifully written and filled with lovely, lovely characters. I could imagine the small town as being similar to the one in A Straight Line To My Heart, and it felt distinctly Australian.

I did find the alternating voices difficult to distinguish at times (Rosie and Charlie - I liked Charlie a lot more than I liked Rosie, she was sweet and tender and wonderful and I just wanted things to work out for her). I could imagine Luke more clearly than anyone else (I perhaps know an excess of dodgy bogan kids). If by some strange magical curse I had to live in the fictional world imagined by one contemporary Australian YA novelist, it would probably be between Melina Marchetta, Simmone Howell or Cath Crowley. (It could happen! I need to be prepared for all eventualities.)

*(Published as Chasing Charlie Duskin in Australia. I read the US version.)

The Lucky Ones by Tohby Riddle

Set in 1980s inner-city Sydney, The Lucky Ones follows maverick teen Tom as he tries to find his way in the world after school. The novel reveals in poignant and hilarious ways the workings of a young male mind – with all its misplaced romanticism, youthful delusions, bewilderment about girls and need for adventure.

But at the heart of the novel is Tom's close friendship with fellow school leaver Cain, a compelling enigma who becomes increasingly unpredictable as he follows his impulses down a path towards self destruction.

This was published in 2009, and I wanted to read it then because I loved the coaster-as-the-moon and vertical-title cover, but never quite got around it. (I was busy in 2009.) I picked it up recently because it centres around a character who has recently finished school, and hey! so has Steph Bowe! But I am not a teenage boy living in 1980s inner-city Sydney. Unfortunately. (I didn't know it was set in the 80s when I read it. I thought they were just being cool with the cassette players.)

The blurb above (from the author's website) is a lot different to the one on the back cover of the book (which implies a lot more action than it delivers) - just a few sentences, so I started reading knowing basically nothing. It's very atmospheric, slowly paced, and though things happen they are not dealt with in the typical dramatic manner of YA novels - Tom is an interesting narrator, and I enjoyed the writing style, but it's all very subdued and reflective. I'm surprised this hasn't been labelled as young-adult/adult crossover or straight-up literary fiction. Lots of lovely moments (I loved the mixtapes and his friendship with Cain) and ponderings. I think it reflects the weird space between finishing school and the rest of life wonderfully.

Happy New Year! & Writerly Resolutions!

It's a new year! How 'bout that. I hope you all have a most wonderful 2012...

2011 was a good year - though not a super-productive year on the writerly front (15-year-old me in 2009 pretty much had the best year ever, really), I finished high school and moved from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, both fairly major. Book Two is still in the works. I became a whole lot less shy and a much better public speaker last year, but I still really do not like parties. I have big! fabulous! plans for 2012. And I hope you do, too.

Various Writerly New Year's Resolutions:
(because if I put them on the internet I must be held accountable! Unless the world ends this year. In which case I hope you all have a wonderful end of the world!)

1. Finish revising That Book That I Still Need To Revise.
I'm in fifth draft territory, and I'm hoping to have this done in the next month or so. This is a big goal, even though it'll only hopefully take a small part of the year, because this book has been killing me slowly for about two years now. But if I can finish it and make it great then I can pretty much do anything. Or I can at least do the same thing again.

2. Finish the first and second drafts of three other manuscripts.
I have multiple unfinished manuscripts on the go, and now I've finished school, I have no excuse not to finish them. I would very much like to finish first drafts of all three, and because my first drafts can be a mess (a hilarious, self-indulgent mess, mind you) wrap up a second draft that can hopefully be read by other people, too.

3. Answer my email and blog twice a week.
I tend to find myself either a) spending ridiculous amounts of time on the internet very ineffectively, obsessively refreshing my inbox and watching videos of various cute fluffy animals; or b) pretending the internet doesn't exist for weeks at a time, allowing email to pile up to terrifying unanswerable proportions and not blogging. This year, I'm hoping to spend less time on the internet but do more, and blog on a more regular basis.

I was considering a fourth resolutions to do with reading (people with goals like 'read 366 books in 2012' astound and kind of frighten me) but I tend to find myself reading, if anything, too much (I probably read about thirty books in the last fortnight of the year to make up for not reading a whole lot through the year). I'd like to read more widely this year, though. Quit reading just contemporary YA (I also read way too many books about precocious sociopathic teenage boys. Are there a lot of these books around? Or am I just weirdly drawn to them?).

I've got a bunch more goals for the year: I'd like to learn guitar, get better at photography, plan some travel, and learn to drive. This time next year I'll probably have the same goals and will be bemoaning the fact that the year went by so fast, but for the moment I am hopeful! 2012 stretches out in front of me like a great, unknown land! A land of awesomeness! (I will be turning eighteen in less than a month! I'm holidaying to Sydney this January! UNTOLD ADVENTURES AWAIT. You can tell I'm excited. I'm using all caps.)

Okay. If you, too, have ridiculous ambitions for the promising year ahead, I have absolute faith that you can achieve them: Share with me your New Year's resolutions! (I'll start sending positive, goal-achieving thoughts your way.)